In general, an air conditioner for a vehicle is a device for heating or cooling air by introducing outside air indoors or circulating inside air to heat or cool the inside of the vehicle. That is, the air conditioner for the vehicle introduces air to the inside of the vehicle by an air blower so that the introduced air passes an evaporator in which refrigerant flows and selectively passes a heater core according to opening and closing of a temperature door so as to selectively blow air to parts of the inside of the vehicle by the door.
According to independent structures of a blower unit, an evaporator unit and a heater core unit, such an air conditioner is classified into a three-piece type air conditioner in which the blower unit, the evaporator unit and the heater core unit are disposed independently, a semi-center type air conditioner in which the evaporator unit and the heater core unit are embedded in the air-conditioning case and the blower unit is mounted separately, and a center-mounting type air conditioner in which the three units are all embedded in the air-conditioning case.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2549032 (May 30, 1997) discloses a cooling device for a vehicle with a deodorizer. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a cooling device for a vehicle with a deodorizer according to the prior art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the cooling device for the vehicle with the deodorizer includes: a case 20 having an outside air intake duct 21 and an inside air intake duct 22: and an intake door 23 disposed to be able to rotate to selectively open and close the outside air intake duct 21 and the inside air intake duct 22. An actuator 30 is connected to a rotary shaft of the intake door 23 so as to be controlled by a controller 31.
An air blower 25 is mounted at the downstream side of the intake door 23 to blow the air introduced from the outside air intake duct 21 and the inside air intake duct 22 to the downstream side. The air blower 25 includes a fan 32 and a motor 33 for rotating the fan 32. An evaporator 26 is mounted at the downstream side in the air blower 25 and exchanges heat with air passing the evaporator 26 to cool the air. A photocatalytic filter 27 is mounted on an air passageway 28 of the downstream side of the evaporator 26 to generate active oxygen by irradiation of light with long wavelength.
The photocatalytic filter 27 generates active oxygen by irradiation of an ultraviolet lamp 29 so that the active oxygen oxidizes and decomposes ill-smelling materials into oxidized compound of extremely low concentration. The ultraviolet lamp 29 is arranged between the evaporator 26 and the photocatalytic filter 27. A metal catalyst filter 34 is mounted at the downstream side of the photocatalytic filter 27 in order to remove ozone contained in moving air. The unexplained reference numeral 35 designates a temperature sensor, 36 designates a sensor for sensing the level of bad smell, 37 designates a fan switch, and 24 designates an air outlet.
However, the conventional cooling device for the vehicle with the deodorizer has a disadvantage in that the ultraviolet lamp 29 used as a light source for photocatalysis contains mercury therein and mercury is harmful for human bodies and cannot be applied to vehicles due to various environmental conditions. Moreover, the conventional cooling device for the vehicle with the deodorizer has another disadvantage in that the photocatalytic filter 27 mounted at the downstream side of the evaporator 26 must be replaced with a new one due to decrease of air volume when there is excessive dust quantity because it adsorbs and deodorizes bad smells generated from the evaporator 26.
Furthermore, the conventional cooling device for the vehicle with the deodorizer has a further disadvantage in that the deodorizer increases noise and is deteriorated in deodorizing and sterilizing functions and air-conditioning performance because it acts as a resistor of the moving air according to the installation position.
Additionally, the conventional cooling device for the vehicle with the deodorizer has a still further disadvantage in that the deodorizer is generally low in sterilization and deodorization efficiency of the evaporator and in that the deodorizer cannot concentrically sterilize and deodorize parts of the evaporator which are vulnerable to bacteria and bad smell.